- Family plans Unique hotels to rest (even with children) in summer
- Nature: Getaway to Cabo de Gata, the wildest near paradise
Neither beach nor mountain. Here there is a lot of orchard and a desert. Oh, and the star dish is the vegetable stew. What kind of place is the Ribera de Navarra for a child? Perhaps not the most obvious, but you just have to scratch a little to discover that this territory between the unusual landscapes of the Bardenas Reales and the Ebro valley hides endless attractions for families eager for adventure.
The route starts in Valtierra . In this town on the banks of the Bardenas you can live the experience of sleeping in a cave. It is nothing outlandish for the area, where the land is broken since the Middle Ages. Moreover, until the 60s, living in one of these cavities was the most normal thing in the world if you could not afford the brick. "There were about 400 caves," recalls Rubén Mendi, in front of the Caves of the Bardenas , a tourist complex that houses nine apartment-caves for tourism.
The story changed when Franco considered them an improper place of life and ordered them destroyed. "With the fortune that a native military man, Lieutenant General Lacalle, managed to make an exception in Valtierra." Despite its rough skin and irregular curves, the caves have the charm of a rural cottage, yes, with an extra dose of freshness and mystery.
They are also a perfect base of operations to explore the Bardenas Reales Natural Park . To go without interpreter to this unique desert space in Europe would be to lose much of its wealth. And it should be time. "Big fish that weighs little there is not," says David Espino, nature guide of La vereda del cerzo, to explain that "to make a good tour of the Bardenas you need four and a half hours in 4X4".
Already at the first viewpoint, the traveler realizes the immensity of the place. The Pyrenees in front and the Moncayo behind are perfectly visible. In the middle there is a human desert of 42,000 hectares where nobody lives and evokes the wild American West. "Twenty billion years ago this was a lake. Then the Ebro river would be born and all this water would find its way out leaving this strange landscape that is the erosion," explains the guide.
Actually we are facing a steppe hit by the deer, the dominant wind that blows on the entire axis of the Ebro ("so we are crazy"). A place where there is hardly anything, but where if you look you discover a great variety of plants : rosemary, artemisia, salicornia, arugula, soda ... even wild grasses with whose esparto David makes a necklace from which a plaster glass hangs: " The diamonds of the desert. "
The circular route covers all the great geological hits of the Bardenas. From the head of the Cortinillas, to that of Castildetierra , the great rocky icon of the park. The photo here is essential. «The pinnacle that crowns the head loses 40 centimeters a year. In 15 or 20 years we lose it ”, warns the guide. Time flies and without realizing it is time to leave this scenario of the Game of Thrones series to head to Sendaviva , a leisure park in the middle of nature.
Raptors and free fall
Your success is precisely that. You can travel 650 meters at more than 70 km / hour in a zip line and at the same time observe up to 800 animals in semi-freedom regime. Or ride a giant float on the tubing with 60 meters of unevenness and enjoy after a display of birds of prey.
Now, the star attraction of Sendaviva is the fantastic bobsleigh. This version of the Olympic sport descends by trepidant slopes over the treetops and reaches a speed of vertigo. The toughest section is the 35-meter descent in free fall. Maybe not suitable for sensitive stomachs, but still highly recommended.
The route through the Community would be lame if we do not enjoy your garden. We go to Beire, already in the Navarra Media, where the Beitu tourist center is hidden. Half hostel, half farm school with 12 hectares of orchard, we are in what was the palace of the counts of Ezpeleta. "This noble house was later expanded by the monks and would end up being a boarding school until the 1960s," explains Iñaki Irigoyen, cook and coordinator of the activities. Beire is between two interesting places: Pitillas Lagoon , a humid paradise of many migratory birds, and the monumental Olite , symbol of the old Kingdom of Navarra and the culmination of the route.
In their majestic Royal Palace, families are welcomed by the very Blanca de Navarra. During the theatrical guided tour the maze of chambers, viewpoints, courtyards, galleries and anarchic towers that draw what was one of the most beautiful and luxurious palaces of his time, the favorite of Carlos III, is discovered. "One of the only castles that had lead pipes, which had more than 12 bathrooms and even a zoo, with giraffes, buffalo, camels, lions and ostriches," the guide will tell the children.
The surprises continue with the tour of rigor through the medieval layout of Olite. And maybe there is also time to visit one of their wineries ... although this can already be left for a getaway without children.
PRACTICAL GUIDE
Drop down
How to get. By train to Tudela (renfe.es) or by car to Arguedas, point of entry to the PN of the Bardenas Reales (bardenasreales.es).
Where to sleep. Bardeneras Caves (bardeneras. Com). Nine cave-houses with all the comforts in Valtierra. From 257 euros / two nights). Also in the Beitu hostel (beire.com), in an old palace From 36 euros.
Where to eat. Merindad de Olite. Traditional Navarre cuisine in Olite.
More info. On the Tourism website of Navarra www.turismo.navarra.es
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